2/1/2003 – Columbia lost (Crew of 7 – Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Ilan Ramon). A range of hills on Mars near Gusev Crater is named after the crew, and was later explored by the rover Spirit.

The other three space missions which ended in loss of life were in April 1967 (Soyuz 1 – Vladimir Komarov), June 1969 (Soyuz 11 – Viktor Patsayev, Georgi Dobrovolsky, and Vladislav Volkov), and November 1967 (the X-15 – Michael Adams).

Diagram of “Significant Incidents”

I know this diagram is complex, but start with the bright yellow boxes – and go from there, although depressing there’s quite a lot if intriguing information packed in here.

I visited the Astronaut Memorial at Kennedy Space Center two years ago, and I hope they never have to add another name to it.